South x Saigon — Restaurant in Houston

I found this place through Houston Restaurant Weeks and ordered from the offered event dinner menu (3 courses for $39). As a note, I did choose the TO-GO option, so I didn't get to eat this fresh at the restaurant.

First course, shrimp and crab scampi. There were 6 or so crab claws and 3-4 big shrimp submerged in a delightful garlic butter sauce that also had some fruity notes, maybe citrus? There was some shredded leaf in there, I think purple basil. It was fragrant and delicious, and I was grateful for the extra bread that came with it to sop up the sauce. I will say I feel the crab and one of the shrimp were a bit overcooked, but the crab was still sweet and the other two shrimp were perfectly cooked.

Second course, shaking beef. The container was piled high with fluffy fried rice and the beef with onions and peppers and spices. The beef had all the flavors I want, but this beef was falling-apart tender and there was more liquid/sauce that I'd normally expect, so more like it was slow cooked together. It was so delicious, and paired great with the fried rice! I'd say I was missing the onions a little because they were cut smaller than I'm used to, but there was plenty of sliced bell pepper to make up for it. There was so much food I have more than enough to eat it again tomorrow.

Third course, dessert! I chose the fried cheesecake. This was cheesecake stuffed eggrolls, and even though I saved them for last, they were still super crispy and delightful. They were sitting in a nice caramel sauce too! It was sooooo good.

I talked to the owner, named Skip, when I picked up my order. I was surprised the place was empty, but it was a Tuesday night so maybe not unusual. Skip is the chef and has occupied this space for years, but recently launched South X Saigon, which is the first time he is creating his own menu.

I deducted one star because of the overcooked crab, but overall I really like the food and flavors at S X S and I'm looking forward to seeing the restaurant continue to grow and...

We had a party of 6 and were the only table until the restaurant closed. We have seen multiple reviews about it and decided to finally try this place out. The staff were amazing and were always around and helpful. We did noticed that the food was coming out of the kitchen very slow for being the only customers during that time frame. Hush puppy were not memorable. Egg rolls were a huge let down. It was crispy on the outside but lack any flavor on the filling. Chicken wings needed more flavor. We did half lemon pepper and half mango habanero (it was not spicy at all). The shrimp pasta was super bland. We took a few bites and took it Togo so l can fix the flavoring at home. We ordered 5 lbs of spicy crawfish and the staff did mention that crawfish is out of season that we took into consideration but these were tiny baby crawfish with a few medium size mixed. It seems that the crawfish was not soaked long enough because it was bland. The part that makes be puzzled is that we ordered spicy but it was not spicy or any flavor on the crawfish but they did use a lot of msg in their seasoning. Msg is used as a flavor enhancer and can make you very thirsty. My friend ordered the Diablo flavor crawfish and it was not spicy at all. I would not recommend this place because there are other crawfish restaurants that are around the area that is better. Hope you guys can fix the...

The staff was kind and patient with my son, especially as he asked questions and sampled different sauces—he’s a big crawfish fan! We ordered the minimum 2 lbs of fresh crawfish, along with noodles, chicken skin, and fried cheesecake. The crawfish were definitely fresh; while most were on the smaller side (as some reviews mentioned), it didn’t bother me since I’m not a connoisseur. The noodles were tasty, though a bit heavy for a late-night meal. The chicken skin had potential, but could’ve been better with a spicier seasoning or an option for dry spices like those offered with the crawfish. As for the cheesecake, it was just okay—I had expected a deep-fried slice, but it was more basic than I imagined.

Note on my rating scale: Sharing this for transparency, as I recognize that a 3-star review may be misinterpreted as reflecting a mediocre experience. 5 stars – Exceptional: Outstanding food, service, and/or overall experience. Truly worth going out of your way for. (For example, we frequently make the drive from San Antonio to Austin just for Uchi.) 4 stars – Very Good: Exceeds expectations in quality, service, or ambiance. 3 stars – Good: A solid experience that meets expectations. I consider any place with 3 stars or above worthy of a return visit. 2 stars – Disappointing: Falls short in food quality or service. 1 star – Poor: Not...